Lyrics
The music plays from nowhere (too bright) A cheerful tune I can’t locate The houses sit too neatly Painted still, like they were placed Small doors, tiny windows Furniture frozen mid-use Milk vans left in the road Filled with something I shouldn’t waste The fountain runs in the center Clear liquid, always flowing I take a sip just to be sure (it’s real… I think) Garden gnomes by every step Faces fixed in simple smiles All of them turned just enough To almost face me The music loops too perfectly It never drifts, never fades Don’t stay when it stops (leave before) Everything here holds its place Nothing moves, nothing breaks But something waits between the frames I walk like I’ve been told to walk I breathe like I’ve been shown If I match it perfectly They might not see me The hills stretch far beyond the town Cars left where no roads lead A water tower stands alone Watching everything below Rooms without a house around them Walls placed in empty fields A chair beside a single door That leads to nothing at all The castle floats above it all Resting on something unseen I try not to look too long (it looks back… it does) The music slows without warning Then cuts before it should Don’t be outside when it ends (too late…) Everything holds its shape But not where it was before The gnomes don’t change expression But they’re not in the same place I keep my steps consistent I don’t break the rhythm now If I move the wrong way once They’ll notice The music stops completely No wind No sound I hear them at night, not walking Just soft ceramic scraping (scuff… scuff…) The music used to cover it Now there’s nothing to hide it By day they hold their places Painted, harmless, wrong By night they don’t chase you They arrange around you If I stay inside, I still hear it Right outside the door Something small dragging across the ground Waiting for me to check They never cross the doorway But they don’t need to I see one where I’m going It wasn’t there before (too close…) Something watches from the dark Not shaped like anything here If it sees me out of place It won’t hesitate The music starts again Everything resets to still The houses, the cars, the smiles I pass the same gnome again But this time it’s facing me (stay calm…)